The Captain’s Collection

With its evocative Celtic strains and poetic prose, the opening scenes from Dogstar’s revival of their first production, The Captain’s Collection leave no doubt to the location of this play. But the story of the man who collected some of Scotland’s most familiar traditional music smartly undercuts the romance to paint another picture.

Captain Simon Fraser collated The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles between 1715 – 1745.  But in his attempt to gain support from The Highland Society, Fraser omitted pro-Jacobite lyrics from the music. 

Beginning on the Captain’s death bed,  as Fraser reflects on his life, characters from the songs and his past haunt him. In publishing the music without the lyrics Fraser silenced the voice of a generation.  So while music is played throughout, it is the spoken word which carries power.  

The Captain's Collection has the right mix of lightness and gravitas.  After a slow start, it picks up the pace with a simple yet comic presentation of the clan battle of 1544.  The play works especially well in the dramatisation of the songs and Matthew Zajac shines as the drunken Captain. 

Dressed throughout in nightgown and long johns, Fraser appears a fool.  Draped in finery at his death, in life he is often stripped of his dignity. Despite this, Dogstar’s production gives voice to a man whose legacy is heard wherever Celtic music is played. While Fraser himself was not heroic, his airs and melodies continue to champion the heroes of the past.